Monday, March 3, 2014

Wells Fargo said Monday it has a new executive heading the company's efforts to diversify the companies it contracts with, such as women- and minority-led firms.

Regina Edwards, head of corporate supplier diversity, will be based in Charlotte. She replaces Sonya Dukes, who was also based in Charlotte and left Wells Fargo to pursue other opportunities, the company said.

Edwards is responsible for helping the San Francisco-based lender expand its use of suppliers certified as minority, women, disadvantaged and small-business enterprises. Office supplies, security and property maintenance are examples of the types of products and services for which such firms might be used by Wells Fargo.

In 2012, the year for which most recent data is available, Wells Fargo spent $723 million with such businesses, including lesbian-, gay-, bisexual- and transgender-led firms, according to data provided by the bank. The figure represented 7.24 percent of the bank's controllable spending, up from 6.9 percent the year before. The bank's goal is for the annual figure to be 10 percent.

Edwards will work in the Three Wells Fargo building in uptown and report to Greg Schmid, head of supply chain management for the bank.

Edwards' first day was Feb. 10. She previously worked in Atlanta for Capital One Financial Corp., where she held a leadership role in influencing supplier diversity strategy, Wells Fargo said.